Woman Suffrage Party

Last updated
Woman Suffrage Party of New York
AbbreviationWSP
Successor League of Women Voters, New York chapter
Formation1909
Founder Carrie Chapman Catt
Dissolved1919
PurposeWomen's suffrage in New York and the US

The Woman Suffrage Party (WSP) was a New York city political organization dedicated to women's suffrage. It was founded in New York by Carrie Chapman Catt at the Convention of Disfranchised Women in 1909. [1] WSP called itself "a political union of existing equal suffrage organizations in the City of New York." [2] WSP was many New York women's first experience with politics and "contributed directly to the passage of a woman suffrage amendment in New York state." [3]

Contents

History

The Woman Suffrage Party started with the Convention of Disfranchised Women. The Convention took place in Carnegie Hall on October 29, 1909, and was sponsored by the Interurban Suffrage Council (ISC). [4] [5] The ISC was a group created by Carrie Chapman Catt and made up of smaller suffrage organizations in New York City. [5]

Local women's suffrage groups sent 804 delegates to attend. [6] Mrs. Clarence Mackay presented the conference platform, which was adopted at the convention. Her platform included the assertion that men and women were equal, that it was natural for men and women to cooperate, that laws have tended to restrict women's access to education and full independence, and that it was unlawful to tax women when they had no voice in government. [4]

The conference called for Catt to act as the chairperson for a new party, first called the Woman's Party, and later the Woman Suffrage Party. [7] [1] Overall, the conference was "conservative" in tone, rather than "militant," according to the News-Palladium . [7] and The Los Angeles Times . [8]

About

Rosalie Jones, with fellow suffragettes Jessie Stubbs and Ida Craft, handing out WSP meeting fliers, circa 1912-1913 Jessie Belle Hardy Stubbs MacKaye, Ida Craft, and Rosalie Jones.jpg
Rosalie Jones, with fellow suffragettes Jessie Stubbs and Ida Craft, handing out WSP meeting fliers, circa 1912-1913

Carrie Chapman Catt organized the WSP like a "political machine." [9] The bottom level of the group included individual party members, who then chose district leaders who would represent them at borough and city conventions. The top level of WSP was a board of all of the district chairs. [6] In total, there were 804 delegates and 200 alternates, making the WSP the "largest delegate suffrage body ever assembled in New York State." [10]

In order to raise money for the group, WSP took in contributions from individuals, sponsored benefits and also created several "fund-raising stunts." [11] These included "self-denial week" where members saved money by eating ten-cent sandwiches, walked instead of hiring cabs, and forwarded the savings to the WSP. "Sacrifice Day" on August 7, 1914, saw women attending a luncheon where they donated jewelry and watches to further the cause. [11] WSP did not use violent tactics to achieve their goals. [12]

Women in the WSP raised awareness by organizing large meetings, passing out suffrage-related literature and marched in parades. [11] Parades included black women as well as white women, though in one parade on May 4, 1912, a black girl was mistreated by a group of men until "the division marshal beat them off with a flagpole." [13] Members also went door to door throughout New York, spreading the word and encouraging men to sign petitions for women's right to vote. [11] WSP also steadily applied pressure to "New York political machines to accept women's demands." [14]

WSP was inclusive and "actively recruited working-class women." [15] The organization was very interested in ensuring that women were paid fair wages in factories and that women had a say in government regulation of large industries. [16] The WSP also advocated that women be paid the same as men for the same work. [16] WSP also printed much of their literature in other languages, in order to reach minority groups, such as Italian, Jewish and Chinese women in New York. [17] WSP also reached out to Catholic women by printing literature with testimonials from sympathetic Catholic clergy and also by joining with the St. Catherine's Welfare Society, which was pro-suffrage. [18] While WSP did recruit working-class women and minorities, many members of WSP were firmly socially conservative and did not want to mix with the poor or with minorities. [19]

Flier distributed by the WSP to welcome Carrie Chapman Catt back to New York, November 1912 Woman-suffrage-party-300x192.jpg
Flier distributed by the WSP to welcome Carrie Chapman Catt back to New York, November 1912

By 1915, the WSP had a hundred thousand members. [20] During the summer of 1915, the WSP ran a "model woman suffrage campaign," with 5,225 outdoor meetings, 13 concerts and 28 parades and processions. [21] Members continued to reach out door to door and by telephone. WSP sponsored a boat to run between Coney Island and Brighton Beach with a ten-foot sign urging people to support women's suffrage. [21] When the vote for suffrage was not in their favor in November 1915, the WSP continued to lobby for another referendum for women's voting rights. [22] By November 6, 1917, there was a resounding win for women's suffrage in New York. Catt called the New York campaign the "decisive battle of the American woman suffrage movement." [23]

After women earned the right to vote in New York, the WSP helped women prepare to exercise their rights. [24] Two committees were formed to help women prepare to vote: The Americanization Committee, under the direction of Mary E. Dreier, and the Women Voters' Council, under the leadership of Hay, which educated American voters. [24] The Americanization Committee taught English classes to women who were born outside of the United States. [24] They also visited tenements, aided in helping women achieve citizenship, and saw to educating entire families. [25] The educational efforts of the WSP were completely non-partisan. [25]

The WSP continued to lobby in the federal suffrage campaign until May 1919, when the WSP became the New York chapter of the League of Women Voters. [26]

WSP published The Woman Voter as their official journal [27] until 1917 when it merged with other publications to form The Woman Citizen .

Notable members

Model War Garden of the Woman Suffrage Party in New York. Pictured left to right are Rene Glogan, Helena Ries, Mrs. J.N. Dawson, Mrs. M. Barnes, Rose De Bella, Mrs. Daniel Appleton Palmer, Mrs. Thomas B. Wells, Mary Garrett Hay and Flora Hay. Woman suffrage party victory garden 1917.jpg
Model War Garden of the Woman Suffrage Party in New York. Pictured left to right are Rene Glogan, Helena Ries, Mrs. J.N. Dawson, Mrs. M. Barnes, Rose De Bella, Mrs. Daniel Appleton Palmer, Mrs. Thomas B. Wells, Mary Garrett Hay and Flora Hay.

Many members of WSP were notable women in the fight for women's suffrage. Mary Ritter Beard was the vice-chair of the Manhattan branch of the WSP in 1910. [28] She left that post at about the same time she quit editing the official journal of WSP, The Woman Voter , in 1912. [29] In 1915, Mary Garrett Hay was the president. [20] In 1917, Helen Rogers Reid became the treasurer of the WSP. [30] Vira Boarman Whitehouse was the head of the WSP in 1917 when women were given the right to vote in New York. [31] The labor journalist Mary Heaton Vorse was a founding member, and in 1913 the party's delegate to the conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Budapest. [32]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Wisconsin</span>

Attempts to secure women's suffrage in Wisconsin began before the Civil War. In 1846, the first state constitutional convention delegates for Wisconsin discussed women's suffrage and the final document eventually included a number of progressive measures. This constitution was rejected and a more conservative document was eventually adopted. Wisconsin newspapers supported women's suffrage and Mathilde Franziska Anneke published the German language women's rights newspaper, Die Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung, in Milwaukee in 1852. Before the war, many women's rights petitions were circulated and there was tentative work in forming suffrage organizations. After the Civil War, the first women's suffrage conference held in Wisconsin took place in October 1867 in Janesville. That year, a women's suffrage amendment passed in the state legislature and waited to pass the second year. However, in 1868 the bill did not pass again. The Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA) was reformed in 1869 and by the next year, there were several chapters arranged throughout Wisconsin. In 1884, suffragists won a brief victory when the state legislature passed a law to allow women to vote in elections on school-related issues. On the first voting day for women in 1887, the state Attorney General made it more difficult for women to vote and confusion about the law led to court challenges. Eventually, it was decided that without separate ballots, women could not be allowed to vote. Women would not vote again in Wisconsin until 1902 after separate school-related ballots were created. In the 1900s, state suffragists organized and continued to petition the Wisconsin legislature on women's suffrage. By 1911, two women's suffrage groups operated in the state: WWSA and the Political Equality League (PEL). A voter referendum went to the public in 1912. Both WWSA and PEL campaigned hard for women's equal suffrage rights. Despite the work put in by the suffragists, the measure failed to pass. PEL and WWSA merged again in 1913 and women continued their education work and lobbying. By 1915, the National Woman's Party also had chapters in Wisconsin and several prominent suffragists joined their ranks. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was also very present in Wisconsin suffrage efforts. Carrie Chapman Catt worked hard to keep Wisconsin suffragists on the path of supporting a federal woman's suffrage amendment. When the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Wisconsin an hour behind Illinois on June 10, 1919. However, Wisconsin was the first to turn in the ratification paperwork to the State Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Iowa</span>

Efforts toward women's suffrage began early in Iowa's history. During the territory's Constitutional Convention, discussions on both African American and women's suffrage took place. Early on, women's rights were discussed in the state by women such as Amelia Bloomer and petitions for suffrage were sent to the Iowa state legislature. While African American men earned the right to vote in 1868, women from all backgrounds had to continue to agitate for enfranchisement. One of the first suffrage groups was formed in Dubuque in 1869. Not long after, a state suffrage convention was held in Mount Pleasant in 1870. Iowa suffragists focused on organizing and lobbying the state legislature. In 1894, women gained the right to vote on municipal bond and tax issues and also in school elections. These rights were immediately utilized by women who turned out in good numbers to vote on these issues. By the 1910s, the state legislature finally passed in successive sessions a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution. This resulted in a voter referendum to be held on the issue on June 5, 1916. The campaign included anti-suffrage agitation from liquor interests who claimed that women's suffrage would cause higher taxes. The amendment was defeated, though a subsequent investigation turned up a large amount of fraud. However, the election could not be invalidated and women had to wait to vote. On July 2, 1919, Iowa became the tenth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Iowa</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Iowa. Women's suffrage work started early in Iowa's history. Organizing began in the late 1960s with the first state suffrage convention taking place in 1870. In the 1890s, women gained the right to vote on municipal bonds, tax efforts and school-related issues. By 1916, a state suffrage amendment went to out to a voter referendum, which failed. Iowa was the tenth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Endres 1996, p. 454.
  2. ↑ "Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897–1911". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 269.
  4. 1 2 The Public 1909, p. 1065.
  5. 1 2 Flexner 1971, p. 311.
  6. 1 2 Schaffer 1962, p. 270.
  7. 1 2 "Suffragists Party a Reality". The News-Palladium. 30 October 1909. Retrieved 10 May 2017– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Women Form A Party Of Their Very Own". The Los Angeles Times. 30 October 1909. Retrieved 10 May 2017– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Van Voris 1987, p. 79.
  10. ↑ Buhle & Buhle 2005, p. 401.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Schaffer 1962, p. 271.
  12. ↑ Vapnek 2009, p. 138.
  13. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 272.
  14. ↑ Buhle & Buhle 2005, p. 34.
  15. ↑ Vapnek 2009, p. 132.
  16. 1 2 Schaffer 1962, p. 273.
  17. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 275.
  18. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 277.
  19. ↑ "Working Class Dirt, Smell, and Sweat: Sanger and the Women's Suffrage Party". Margaret Sanger Papers Project. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  20. 1 2 Van Voris 1987, p. 118.
  21. 1 2 Schaffer 1962, p. 280.
  22. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 282.
  23. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 283.
  24. 1 2 3 Vogue 1917, p. 52.
  25. 1 2 Vogue 1917, p. 96.
  26. ↑ Schaffer 1962, p. 284.
  27. ↑ Leonard 1914, p. 902.
  28. ↑ Lane & Beard 1977, p. 75-76.
  29. ↑ Leonard 1914, p. 87.
  30. ↑ Van Voris 1987, p. 143.
  31. ↑ Dismore, David (7 November 2014). "Today in Herstory: Suffrage Leaders Celebrate Victory in New York". Feminist Majority Foundation Blog. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  32. ↑ Garrison, Dee (1989). Mary Heaton Vorse : the life of an American insurgent. Internet Archive. Philadelphia : Temple University Press. pp. xiv, 75–76. ISBN   978-0-87722-601-7.

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